BLOGGING ON THE BUS

It’s after midnight and we are on the bus to Syracuse. It’s pretty quiet after a 2-1, 12 inning loss at Lehigh Valley. Clay Buchholz went 6 plus innings with 7 strikeouts. The offfense never got on track as Drew Carpenter of the Iron Pigs was, for one night anyway, Buchs’ equal. Although I base my theory strictly on my study of human nature and I didn’t ask Clay, I will share it with you. I figured he would pitch well Monday night, after Michael Bowden’s stirring performance against the Yankees on Sunday at Fenway. I surmise the Boston brass didn’t want to use Clay out of the bullpen, but maybe Buchholz thought it should have been his turn. Clay would have been pitching on short rest and he had the bad hamstring that caused him to miss a start earlier this month. Clay will be back in Boston and someday soon, he and Bowden could anchor the rotation. It is almost an “embarassment of riches” with all the good young arms in the organization. I re-emphasize, this is strictly speculation.

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The real excitement on Monday came late in the game as a bat (the animal, not the hitting implement) flew into the Iron Pig radio booth. Matt Provence and John Shaeffer, their broadcasters scrambled like school girls, Provence hiding under the counter while Shaeffer bolted out of the room as if it were on fire. Dan Hoard and I got a tremendous kick out of it, but we quickly agreed, we were REALLY glad it didn’t enter our booth. Dan and I were both apparently traumatized as kids by the Hitchcock classic “The Birds.”

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We look forward to our trips to Syracuse. At one point, both Dan and I served as the voice of the Syracuse Chiefs. It is great to see old friends and make a pilgrimage to the home of the world’s best chicken wings “The Change of Pace”. Former Major League pitcher Steve Grilli owns the place and oversees the wing process. PawSox fans may remember that Grilli was the loser in the longest game in baseball history, pitching for Rochester at McCoy back in 1981.